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Background: Although fluoride may cause neurotoxicity in animal models and acute fluoride poisoning causes neurotoxicity in adults, very little is known of its effects on children’s neurodevelopment.

Objective: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies to investigate the effects of increased fluoride exposure and delayed neurobehavioral development.

Methods: We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Water Resources Abstracts, and TOXNET databases through 2011 for eligible studies. We also searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, as many studies on fluoride neurotoxicity have been published in Chinese journals only. In total, we identified 27 eligible epidemiological studies with high and reference exposures, endpoints of IQ scores or related cognitive function measures with means and variances for the two exposure groups. We estimated the standardized mean difference (SMD) between exposed and reference groups across all studies using random effects models. We conducted sensitivity analyses restricted to studies using the same outcome assessment and having drinking water fluoride as the only exposure. Cochran test for heterogeneity between studies, Begg’s funnel plot and Egger test to assess publication bias were performed. Meta-regressions to explore sources of variation in mean differences among the studies were conducted.

Results: The standardized weighted mean difference in IQ score between exposed and reference populations was -0.45 (95% CI -0.56 to -0.35) using a random-effects model. Thus, children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ scores than those who lived in low fluoride areas. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses also indicated inverse associations, although the substantial heterogeneity did not appear to decrease.
Conclusions: The results support the possibility of an adverse effect of high fluoride exposure on children’s neurodevelopment. Future research should include detailed individual-level information on prenatal exposure, neurobehavioral performance, and covariates for adjustment.

...The most outstanding component to the study is where it was published. Authors published their conclusion online in the July 20th edition of the prominent journal Environmental Health Perspectives, a federal government medical journal stemming from the United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The very same government that has continually asserted that water fluoridation is both perfectly safe and ‘effective’ at aiding the health of citizens who consume it on a daily basis.

In the past, the US government has actually been forced to call for lower fluoridation levels as previous research had also drawn a link between fluoride exposure and a host of neurotoxic effects. In the latest research by Harvard, it is made even more explicitly clear just how toxic fluoride can be to the body. In a written statement, researchers state:

“The children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ than those who lived in low fluoride areas.”

This should come as no surprise to those who have followed fluoride research over the past several years. As far back as 1977, for instance, epidemiological studies performed by the head of the Cytochemistry Section at the National Cancer Institute Dr. Dean Burk revealed that fluoride exposure led to increased tumor growth – even at levels as low as 1 ppm (the standard for United States drinking water). Beyond revealing an accelerated tumor growth rate of 25% in his research, fluoride was found to produce melanotic tumors, transform normal cells into cancer cells and increases the carcinogenesis of other chemicals.

In 1977, Dr. Burk estimated that fluoridation has actually caused about 10,000 deaths according to his research.

It will come as no surprise, then, that even the EPA — an agency charged with protecting the people — has classified fluoride as a substance with ”with substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity.” Perhaps the EPA is also run by blubbering conspiracy theorists. In another entry by study authors, it is explained how fluoride actually attacks the brain in unborn children and essentially launches a direct assault on their neurological development:

”Fluoride readily crosses the placenta. Fluoride exposure to the developing brain, which is much more susceptible to injury caused by toxicants than is the mature brain, may possibly lead to damage of a permanent nature.”...